


Heartbreak

by enigmaticblue



Category: Bones (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-12-10
Updated: 2010-12-10
Packaged: 2017-10-13 14:40:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 501
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/138480
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/enigmaticblue/pseuds/enigmaticblue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cam doesn’t think she’s never had her heart broken quite like this.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Heartbreak

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the hc_bingo prompt “serial killers/stalkers”. Spoilers through season 3.

Cam is well acquainted with the psychological aftermath of a case, but this is new. She knows it’s normal to crash. There’s that moment when the adrenalin of resolving the issues wears off, when all that’s left are the autopsy reports yet to be written, the paperwork to fill out, and the files to put away. Sometimes the outcome is satisfying, sometimes it leaves her a little bit sad, but she doesn’t think she’s ever had her heart broken quite like this.

 

She’d said good riddance, and she doesn’t regret Gormagon’s death, but Cam doesn’t feel that sense of closure she usually gets at the end of a case. The bad guy might be dead, but there are so many pieces to pick up. Cam isn’t sure she has the energy.

 

She sits on the steps to the platform and rests her head in her hands. She wishes she’d recognized Zack’s struggles after he’d returned from Iraq. He’d been vulnerable to Gormagon, and Cam feels as though she’s failed him.

 

Zack is—was—one of her people, and she’s responsible for him. Cam wonders how she could have been so blind.

 

“Hey.”

 

She sees Booth’s shoes, and then looks up to meet his eyes. “I thought you went home.”

 

He shakes his head. “Bones went home, but I’m still wired from earlier. I thought I’d—I don’t know, just look around. Where did you put Zack’s stuff?”

 

Cam rubs her tired eyes. “Hodgins took it home with him. He said he’d hang onto it until Zack gets settled wherever he’s going.”

 

Booth settles down on the step next to her, his shoulder bumping hers. “You going to be okay?”

 

“I don’t know,” Cam admits quietly. “I hate serial killers.”

 

“Me, too,” he replies. “Especially the cannibalistic ones.”

 

“Especially those,” Cam agrees.

 

They spend a moment in companionable silence, and Cam feels a little of her burden ease in his company.

 

“Did I miss something, Seeley?” Cam finally asks, knowing that Booth will tell her the truth. “Should I have seen what was going on?”

 

“We all missed it, Camille. It’s no one’s fault.”

 

“I don’t—I can’t believe that,” she admits. “I can’t believe that he could just slip so far away from us.”

 

“Bones was probably closer to him than anybody,” Booth says quietly. “She had no idea.” He rests a big, warm hand on her knee. “It’s not her fault either.”

 

“I don’t blame her,” Cam shoots back, hearing the bit of anger in her voice. “I blame myself, and I blame Zack, but I don’t want to.”

 

Booth looks at her for a long moment, clearly weighing his words, and then he puts an arm around her shoulders, pulling her in for a tight hug.

 

“This was a hard case for all of us, Cam,” Booth finally says. “All we can do is get past it.”

 

Cam shakes her head. “I don’t think I’m ever going to get past this.”

 

“Yeah, I know.” And Booth just holds on.


End file.
